STATE Prosecutors from the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), senior investigating ranks and prosecutors from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) wrapped up a two-day training course last Saturday. It was made possible under the Modernisation of the Justice Administration System (MJAS) programme and the sessions, with 41 participants, were held at Regency Suites Hotel, on Hadfield Street, Stabroek, Georgetown.
As part of the first sub-component of the MJAS, the focus was on enhancing the capacity of institutions within the justice sector, inclusive of the reorganisation of the DPP’s Chambers and the phasing out of police prosecutors, with the overall objective being to transform the standards of prosecution through the adoption of international best practices.  
Having undergone the training, it is expected that those who participated will have:

**    a better understanding of the more challenging aspects of the law;
**     increased ability to make better presentation of cases;
**     enhanced capability to assess evidence and
**    increased success rate with cases prosecuted.

MJAS Project Coordinator, retired Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh, in opening remarks, noted that, historically, justice was deemed as being old-fashioned, in that it clings to century old procedures.
She said the MJAS, by its very name, implies that the intention is to ‘Don the Coat of Modernity’ and sweep away the cobwebs of past generations which enmesh the legal procedures, making them inappropriate in the 21st century.
Justice Singh said, at the heart of the programme, there is a move to dispense with archaic laws and procedural rules, bringing Guyana in line with modern legal international trends, best practices and standards.

EXPERIMENTAL FORM
The DPP, Ms. Shalimar Ali-Hack pointed out that the training is in an experimental form of case preparation and trial practice, focusing on areas of the law which are most popular in cases but which seem to pose the greatest problems.
She said special emphasis is on examination-in-chief, cross-examination and re-examination, procedures in the chain of custody and the tendering of both documentary and non-documentary exhibits, confession statements, identification and inconsistencies.
The DPP also emphasised that the aim is to equip the participants with more knowledge and better skills to execute the business of fair and just prosecution, to deliver justice to the public.
The facilitators were lawyers from New Perimeter, a non-profitable affiliate of DLA Piper, which conducts business in 32 countries, utilising a contingent of 4,000 legal counsel who are engaged in assisting countries around the world in building capacity in the sector, on a ‘pro bono’ basis.
Justice Singh, in appreciation of having them impart some of their knowledge, told them Guyanese are extremely fortunate to have them avail their skills and expertise to the Government of Guyana.
She thanked the Inter-American Development (IDB) for its continued support to Guyana, in particular to the MJAS programme.
A similar exercise, for the benefit of magistrates, was undertaken simultaneously at Grand Coastal Inn, on East Coast Demerara.